Little Rock, ARK (August 2007) – The Case Management Society of America (CMSA) announced this week that Mary Gambosh, RN, CCM, a case management pioneer in the truest sense of the word, died Monday, July 30 in Charlotte, NC, after an extended illness. She was 69.
 
"Mary Gambosh was truly a visionary and a pioneer in the field of case management," said CMSA President Peter Moran, RN,C, BSN, MS, CCM. "She always tried to see what was in the best interest of the profession and was a mentor for many a case manager. When I think of Mary, I think of her energy and her unbridled spirit. We have lost a great leader. She will be truly missed."
 
Gambosh began her professional life in 1958 upon graduation from the Medical College of Virginia and St. Luke's Hospital in Richmond, VA, launching a nursing and business career which spanned 50 years. In 1975, Gambosh left the hospital structure to start her own company reflecting on the time as “an era where selling case management services was like selling ice cubes to an Eskimo." Yet, her company flourished becoming the largest independent case management company in the US.
 
In 1989, Gambosh was an integral part of the initial group that founded CMSA, and served as the organization's first Secretary-Treasurer. She is probably best known today as the CMSA National President who in 1996 forged the consolidation of the Individual Case Management Association (ICMA) and CMSA into one dynamic organization. As President, she tirelessly visited chapters sharing her limitless knowledge as well as encouraging and mentoring young leaders. The advice she offered in a 1999 article is equally applicable to today's case manager:

"What can you do? Join the association of your choice and volunteer to assist
wherever your talents lie. Ask what is being done to spearhead collective efforts
to educate lawmakers, employers, healthcare consumers, and the media. 
Don't leave it to someone else. Your future may be at stake."

Gambosh was awarded CMSA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, one of only three such awards in CMSA's 18-year history. According to CMSA's former executive director, Jeanne Boling, MSN, CRRN, CDMS, CCM, “The scope of her work was amazing, the impact of her ideas, incalculable, and the extent of her influence, enormous and all pervasive. In an extraordinary career spanning five decades, there is little that today's care managers do, think, or face, that she has not pioneered, taught or written about. Virtually every area of care management practice has been enriched, enlarged and improved by her keen perception, endless curiosity, humor, wit, and energy."

Gambosh had been ill for some time and had recently lost her husband of 30 years, Frank Gambosh and her son, Stephen in 2006 within a few months of one another. She is survived by 8 children, 12 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. The Memorial Service will be Saturday, August 25, 2:00 pm at Bliley's Funeral Home, 3801 Augusta Ave, Richmond, VA 23230. Donations may be made to Children's Hospital Pediatric Specialty Care of Richmond, VA in memory of Mary. Direct donations can be made at https://ssl.charityweb.net/chva/ or by contacting Chris Broughton-Spruill, Executive VP of Children's Hospital Foundation, at (804) 228-5814.

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